The Emirates Group comprising Emirates airline, dnata and other subsidiaries announced on Tuesday its first year of loss in over 30 years caused by a significant drop in revenue, fully attributed to the impact of COVID-19 related flight and travel restrictions throughout its entire financial year 2020-21, a press release said.
The Emirates Group posted a loss of US$ 6.0 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2021 compared with a US$ 456 million profit for last year. The Group’s revenue was US$ 9.7 billion, a decline of 66% over last year’s results.
The release states that Emirates airline; the main concern of the group reported a loss of US$ 5.5 billion after last year’s US$ 288 million profit, and a negative profit margin of 65.6% due to ongoing pandemic-related flight and travel restrictions.
Emirates’ total passenger and cargo capacity declined by 58% due to pandemic related flight and travel restrictions including a complete suspension of commercial passenger services for nearly eight weeks as directed by the UAE government from 25 March 2020. Emirates’ total revenue for the financial year declined 66% to US$ 8.4 billion.
Emirates carried 6.6 million passengers (down 88%) in 2020-21, with seat capacity down by 83%. From zero scheduled passenger flights at the start of the financial year, to operations in over 120 destinations by 31 March 2021.
Emirates SkyCargo, freighter division of Emirates put in a stellar performance by rapidly responding to new demand in a changed global marketplace, contributing to 60% of the airline’s total transport revenue.
With the strong demand in air freight throughout the year, Emirates’ cargo division reported revenue of US$ 4.7 billion, an increase of 53% over last year.
Another concern dnata recorded a loss of US$ 496 million for the first time. With reduced flight and travel activity across the world, dnata’s total revenue decreased by 62% to US$ 1.5 billion.
